This blog has been far more quiet lately than I would like it to be, but don’t be deceived by the silence — I’ve got quite a few ideas for posts lined up, and hope to return to a more frequent publication schedule soon. Part of the challenge lies in having a very time- and energy-intensive job, but during the past couple of months, there’s been another complicating factor: my husband and I just became new cat “parents” to a brother-sister pair of 7-year-old Maine Coon–Bombay mixes adopted from the East Brunswick, New Jersey-based Animal Rescue Force (ARF). The cats’ previous owner passed away, unbeknownst to all but them for a few days, and they had nowhere to go. Luckily, a neighbor was kind enough to direct them to ARF’s care rather than sending them to the local pound, where they might have met a swift and tragic end. The sad truth is that adult cats are much more difficult to place than kittens, and finding good homes for black cats is more difficult still (which seems hard to believe, but is a well documented fact). While many people have told us how lucky the cats are to have wound up with us, we feel that we are actually the lucky ones. Our new charges are affectionate, healthy, beautiful, and a source of endless entertainment. Welcoming them into our family and acclimating them to their new surroundings has been a joy, and also quite a distraction! So, I’d like to introduce you to our little (well, not so little  they weigh in at close to 15 pounds each) sources of distraction, Tartufo (“Tufo,” front) and Tiramisu (“Missy,” back), known collectively as Team Dolci. It’s challenging getting them to sit still long enough to snap a decent picture, but this is the closest we’ve come so far: